


Homecoming

by samidha



Series: S3-04 Hiatus and S4 Reactions and Sundry [9]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Comment Fic, Episode: s04e22 Lucifer Rising, Gen, H/C Meme Fill, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Withdrawal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-20
Updated: 2009-05-20
Packaged: 2018-12-14 01:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11772987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/samidha
Summary: I wrote two 4.22 codas at the time of the episode, both for the resultant H/C meme. I will put them in as related works, as basically they were written together/as responses to each other.





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Proof](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11773035) by [samidha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/samidha). 



> I wrote two 4.22 codas at the time of the episode, both for the resultant H/C meme. I will put them in as related works, as basically they were written together/as responses to each other.

Sam sleeps in the passenger seat of Ruby's car and Dean drives. He wishes he could wreck it, wishes he could get out and light the fucking thing on fire. But there isn't another car, not yet, and Sam-- Sam is wrecked.

So Dean drives, nothing to fill the silence but the rhythm of Sam's breath in sleep, but at least there's that. Sam's here, and it's really his brother. Dean knew it the moment Sam looked up into Dean's eyes and said the words _I'm sorry_.

Dean hasn't been paying attention to where he's been pointing the car, so he really should be finding himself somewhere totally random like the middle of Idaho. But he doesn't. He passes a sign welcoming him to South Dakota and he feels the bottom drop out of his stomach. 

He doesn't really remember the drive he must have made when he turned the Impala back toward Sam's dorm, either. 

But Dean's instincts are never wrong, even when he turns off most of his brain to engage them, so Dean knows where he has to go now that he's made his way here. He doesn't want to think about why.

Sam's shivering in his seat now and Dean turns up the heat but he doesn't wake Sam.

Sam doesn't have to know yet. If another round of withdrawal is coming, Dean's going to need Bobby, that's all. He's just going to need another person, if he's going to have to hold Sam down again, if he's going to have to wrap Sam's ankles and.... Bobby's who they've got.

_Deja vu all over a-fucking-gain, huh, Winchester? You've got some life._

Yeah. Well. It'll probably be over soon enough. Right now, he's got Sam, and his brother needs him. The rest is just details. So he drives.

He thinks about rousing him a hundred miles out from Bobby's, and again when he hits seventy-five, but he waits til he's closing in on fifty and Sam moans in his sleep. "Ruby, you're _wrong_." And _fuck_ that. That's just _it_ , they're both done. He jostles Sam awake.

Sam groans and sits up, squinting into the dark. "Dean... is this... I know... We're in South Dakota?" He shivers harder and Dean bites his lip. 

"I... Sam, look, I-- Bobby's who we--"

"You think--" Sam's voice goes hard like it has so many other times this year but Dean knows, he knows now, he has his Sam. So he braces himself through it. There's no way to avoid his brother being angry now, not over this. 

But right before the explosion Dean's expecting, Sam deflates, his voice softening. "It's going to happen again. Because I've stopped."

"Could be. Better to be ready."

"I swear, Dean, I-- I'm done, I swear. I didn't mean--"

"I know, Sammy."

Dean catches Sam's nervous half-smile out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm not gonna let-- It's just in case, Sam."

Sam nods, but his hands tighten into fists as Dean pulls off the highway. "Maybe Bobby could--meet us-- I, um, Dean, I really don't want to--"

"Me either. Trust me," Dean says, slow and earnest. "But... Where the hell else is there? You think they wouldn't call the cops on us in some motel somewhere?"

"Fuck."

"Yeah. Pretty much."

They lapse into silence, Sam slouching deeper and deeper into his seat as they make their way along the streets to Singer Salvage.

"Look...I promise you I'll be there. Okay? I'll be there. I've got you this time."

"It's going to--"

"I'm not lettin' _anything_ happen, Sam. Nothin' is gonna happen to you. I'll be right there."

Sam nods. Dean just hopes he believes him. He hopes that he's actually telling the truth.

They coast up to the iron gates of the yard and Sam shakes harder, fear clear in his eyes. "Dean, please, I..."

Dean looks right into his brother's eyes, wills him to know that he _gets it_ and he's with Sam on this. "We have to go in. He needs to know you can."

Sam squeezes his eyes shut and punches the dash. "Yeah. Fine."

It's not fine, not by a long shot. Dean lets out a long breath and nods. "The Impala's in the yard."

Sam smiles at that, shaky but genuine. "Gonna be good to see her," he says, a little of the exhaustion leaving his face.

"You bet your ass it is." That decided, Dean angles the stolen car through the gate. He hates doing it but he's not sure how steady Sam's going to be on his feet. Sam's shaking is... it's bad.

"I didn't think I was going to see her again, Dean."

 _Jesus fuck._ Dean clears his throat hard. "It's gonna be pretty awesome, Sammy. Let's get you home."

Dean supports his brother as they make halting progress between Ruby's piece of shit and the Impala. Sam stumbles and tips sideways a little as they make their way, Dean's arm tight around his shoulders to still the worst of the shivering the best he can.

He leans Sam up against the Impala, keeping an arm around him as he pulls his phone from his pocket and Sam runs a hand over the driver's side door. He makes sure he looks really intent on his phone as he hears Sam murmur a soft, "Hey, you."

Dean makes a show of pressing buttons even though Bobby's number is the first in his phone and Sam rouses himself as expected and grabs his arm. "Wait. I don't... I don't want to go in there yet."

"Okay." Dean holds the phone out as far away from his face as his arm will go.

"Wanna be... stay here."

"We will. I'll tell Bobby that, okay? He can--I'll get him to bring blankets."

Sam considers this for a long moment before he gives a tight nod. "Yeah. Okay. So I... I need to sit down, Dean."

"We'll get you in the back, okay?"

Dean slips his phone back into his pocket and holds onto Sam tight with both hands, helping him pivot a little so he can get the door open for his brother. He helps Sam settle into the back seat before he looks up and sees the blinds twitch in one of Bobby's front windows. The door doesn't open.

Dean makes the call, "Hey, Bobby. We're here. Um. Sam doesn't wanna come inside yet." Sam reaches up for Dean's arm and holds on tight. "We thought we'd... just see how things go. He wanted to-- Yeah. So... Maybe if you brought us some blankets...." He nods at no one. "Yeah. I know. Cross that bridge when we-- It's what he wants. Okay. Bye."

"Dean."

"Yeah, Sammy."

"Don't... I really don't want to... unless it's really time, okay? Unless you guys really think it's bad. It isn't so bad now."

Yeah. It's a laugh riot. But Dean knows what he means.

"I have some time before--"

"I know. Okay. Yeah."

Bobby comes out with the blankets and a mumbled "Good t'see you boys," passes them to Dean without any more preamble and heads back inside. Dean relaxes. This time is theirs.

Dean tucks the blankets around Sam and feels him tense under them. There's a flash in Sam's eyes and Dean swallows back a sour rush of bile. _He's drowning._ He almost didn't-- He stopped seeing Sam and he almost _let Sam go_.

Sam grabs hold of his arm, pulls him back into _right here right now_ and the car and he says, "Come back here. With me." Dean's body floods with warmth he didn't know was gone until it came rushing back til it almost hurt. And okay. He can do that.

"Dean?" Dean realizes he didn't answer and Sam's looking right at him but there's _fear_ \-- Sam shouldn't look like that, like Dean _maybe won't, shouldn't_. Like maybe he can't anymore. Well, fuck _that_ , too. Dean made that mistake once and he'll _never_ go there again.

"Please, I--" Sam says. "I didn't think I was going to see you and I need--"

Dean's voice comes out rough and raw, "Yeah, Sam, I will. Just-- hold on." Dean throws himself back into the driver's seat as quickly as he can, feels the engine come to life beneath them and knows the moment when Sam settles.

"There. I know how you get, kid."

Sam's chuckle is dry, barely there, but it is. Sam is.

Dean turns the radio on low, because they need _something_ in the air between them now. Something they know. His Zeppelin mix picks up where it last left off. _Ours is the fire, all the warmth we can find..._

 _Good enough_ , Dean thinks, and he climbs into the back of the car with Sam.

**Author's Note:**

> Exhausted, Sam and Dean sleep in the back of the Impala was the prompt.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Proof](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11773035) by [samidha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/samidha)




End file.
